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Title:       Father Watson's Questions
Date:        2026-02-14
Tags:        design, philosophy
Link:        https://spool-five.com/box3/20260214t121214--father-watsons-questions__design_philosophy/
Word Count:  221
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These are from the Rich Hickey talk on "Design in Practice"[1] at Clojure
Conj 2023.
=>[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5QF2HjHLSE

The four questions (from a Jesuit priest) are:

1.  Where are you at?
2.  Where are you going?
3.  What do you know?
4.  What do you need to know?

The first two questions are what we most commonly encounter in our modern
workplaces. We usually have to give some kind of periodic updates about
the status of what we are currently working on (_Where are you at?_)
and what our targets are (_Where are you going?_). These kinds of
questions are second nature to us.

However, the second two questions are more related to the _design_
question, i.e., more about reflecting on the problem space itself. If
the first two questions are reflections on action, the second two are
reflections on _understanding_. Hickey argues, and I agree, that we
aren't generally as good with these second two questions, at stepping
back from the immediacy of _doing_ and reflecting instead on the _why_
of the doing. Hickey has a nice grid presentation for these questions:

|                     | Understanding             | Activity             |
|---------------------|---------------------------|----------------------|
| Status (to stand)   | What do you know?         | Where are you at?    |
| Agenda (to be done) | What do you need to know? | Where are you going? |

He also writes that _inquiry_ - advancing knowledge - is the driver.